Refrigerator cabinet



Aug- 14, 1956 J. B. HoRvAY v REFRIGERATOR CABINET Filed March 22, 1954FIG.2

INVENTOR.

JULIUS -B. HORVAY BY al,

HIS ATTORNEY United lStates arent ,l REFRIGERATOR CABINET Julius B.Horvay, Erie, Pa., assgnor to General Electric A Company, a corporationof New York ApplicationMarch 2z, 1954, serial No. 417,7@5 ls claims.(cl. rz- 103) AMy invention relates to refrigerator cabinets and moreparticularly, tomeans for controlling the air circulation within suchcabinets.

In many refrigerators the foodvstorage compartment is cooled by means ofan evaporator located in the upper portion of the compartment. Beneaththis evaporator there kis often'positioned a transverse member whichdivides the compartment into an upper evaporator section and a lowerfresh food section. For example, in some refrigerators this membercomprises a chiller tray for storing foods at near but slightly abovefreezing temperatures whereas in others it comprises a baflle fordirectingair flow through the fresh food section. Whatever the purposeof this member, however, it is ordinarily designed so that a temperaturesuitable for the preservation of most fresh foods is maintained in lowerstorage section lying below it.. However, it may be desirable that forsome purposes a particular portion of the lower storage section rbe keptat a lower temperature than would normally be maintained there with thismember mounted below thev evaporator. For example, if vegetable pans arepositioned at the very bottom of the fresh food section, it may beadvantageous to supply an increased refrigeratingeiect to those pans vtoinsure that the vegetables stored thereinv are kept fresh and unwilted.

Accordingly, it is a primary object of my invention to provide arefrigerator cabinet including new and improved f air circulating means.

It is afurther object of my invention to provide in a refrigeratorhaving a transverse member mounted below the evaporator, means formaintaining a lower temperature at the bottom of the food storagecompartment than would result from cooling effect set up by thetransverse member alone.

Still a further object of my invention is to provide new and improvedmeans for maintaining a low temperature in vegetable pans mounted at thebottom of a refrigerator food storage compartment.

In carrying out-my invention in one preferred form thereof I utilizearefrigerator having an inner liner which defines a refrigerated storagecompartment. Cooling or refrigerating means are located in the uppersection of this compartment and a transverse member is disposed in thecompartment beneath the cooling means. This member divides thelcompartment into an upper cooling section and a lower storage sectionand allows or causes a circulation of air effective to cool the lowerstorage section. In accordance with my invention I provide in thisrefrigerator that improvement which comprises air ow means formaintaining a low temperature in the bottom portion of the storagesection of the compartment. This air ow means includes at least onevertical channel recessed in the wall of the liner. The channel extendsupwardly beyond the transverse member and downwardly to the bottomportion of the storage section to form an air ,ilow path past thetransverse member leading directly from ,the upper cooling section ofthe compartment to the bottom portion. As a result, the bottom sectionis cooled by a column of cool air dropping directly into the bottomportion through the channel and by-passing the remainder of the storagesection of the compartment. In other words, through my invention arapidly descending column of cold air is provided which maintains a lowtemperature at the bottomof the storage compartment without appreciablyaffecting the temperature of the remainder of the compartment.

The novel features which I believe to be characteristic of my inventionare set forth with particularity in the appended claims. My invention,however, both as to its organization and method of operation may be bestunderstood by reference to the following description taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. l is a front view of a refrigerator cabinet including a preferredembodiment of my new and improved air flow means;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary Avertical section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig.l; and

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. l.

Referring now to the diagram I have shown therein a refrigerator cabinet1 including an outer case Z and a spaced inner liner 3. The inner liner3 defines a food storage compartment 4 and. suitable thermal insulatingmaterial 5 is provided between the outer case and the liner to insulatethe storage compartment from the surrounding atmosphere. ment 4 is hadby means of a suitable insulated door 6 mounted on hinges 7 and 8 at thetop and bottom of the cabinet.

Provided for cooling the storage compartment 4 and located in the upperportion thereof is a cooling means or evaporator 9 which extendssubstantially the full width of the compartment 4. During normaloperation of the refrigerator a refrigerating system (not shown)supplies cold liquid refrigerant to the evaporator 9. The refrigeranteffectively cools the evaporator 9 and the food storage compartment 4 byabsorbing heat from the contents thereof and being thereby vaporized.During this process the warm air in the food storage compartment 4 risestoward the evaporator.

Disposedy beneath the evaporator 9 and spaced from the underside thereofisa transverse member 10. This member lil extends substantially acrossthe width of storage compartment 4 to divide it into an upper or coolingsection 11 and a lower or storage section 12. In my preferred embodimentillustrated the transverse member comprises a sloping bailleparticularly effective for creating a rotating ow of cooling air withinthe storage compartment. However, it should be understood that thetransverse member could alternatively be a substantially horizontalchiller tray or receptacle for storing foods adjacent the evaporator atnear freezing temperatures.

In my preferred embodiment any suitable means as for example the rails13 aflixed to the side walls of the liner may be used to mount thetransverse baiile member 10. Further, in the illustrated refrigerator aplurality of rubber bumpers 14 are provided at the rear end of thebaffle to space it slightly from the rear wall 15 of the liner 3, but itshould be understood that my invention, as hereinafter described, may bealso utilized to provide the same results with baffles or othertransverse members whose rear edges contact the rear wall so that noappreciable gap is left therebetween. In fact, one baflle with which myinvention may be utilized to produce particularly desirable results isadjustable so that the gap at the rear of the baiiie may be eitherprovided or eliminated depending upon the refrigerating effect desiredin the lower portion of the storage compartment, that adjustable baiiiebeing fully described and claimed in the co- Access to the storagecompart-` pending application of Harold "F. Harle for RefrigeratorBatlle, S. N. 301,756, le'd -J'illy 30, 1952 and assigned to the sameassignee as the present invention. Also, in the illustrated refrigeratorthe bale `is shown as including a rear pendent ltrough portion 16 forcollecting and carrying away vany moisture forming on either surface ofthe baffle. This trough portion, which empties into `the receptacles 17and 18 mountedin the side corners of liner 3 is however not necessary tomy invention and is here shown only as a desirable feature of thebaffles or other transverse members with which my invention may beutilized.

Whether the transverse member comprises a sloping battle, as shown, orother 'transverse member, as a Chiller tray, the various portions of thestorage section 12 of the compartment-'will be normally maintained attemperatures suitable for the storage of fresh foods. For example in mypreferred embodiment, due to the positioning of baille 10 adjacentevaporator 9 itis maintained at a low Atemperature during the operationof the refrigerating system. As described in the aforesaid Harleapplication this low temperature together with the inclination of thepreferred baille causes a. rotary movement of air in the storage sectionof the compartment. This rotary movement of air notonly cools thestorage section but also tends to keep the temperature differtialthroughout the section very low. Although `exactly the same temperaturecannot be held throughout storage portion, the rotary air circulationtends to minimize the differential between its various sections. If agap is left between the rear end of the baffle and the rear wall of theliner as in the illustrated refrigerator, a somewhat lower averagetemperature will be maintained in the storage portion than when no gapis present due to cold air spilling through the gap, but in either casea rotary movement of air will occur to maintain a relatively eventemperature throughout the storage portion.

But with or without this rotary air circulation, however, sometimes themost desirable temperature will not be maintained in a particular partof the compartment. For example, it is rather common practice to`provide sliding vegetable pans in refrigerator storage compartments andin order that the contents of these pans may be kept crisp it is quitedesirable that they be kept at a low temperature. With thoserefrigerator cabinets heretofore provided, even including the slopingbaffle structure described above, it has been rather difficult tomaintain these vegetable pans at the desired low temperature,particularly when they are' positioned at the very bottom of the foodstorage compartment.

Therefore, in accordanceY with my invention I have provided new andimproved means for providing an increased refrigerating effectin thesection of a refrigerator storage compartment wherein vegetable pans orother article supporting members needing greater than normalrefrigeration are positioned. 'Thus in my preferred embodiincnt thereare included a pair of vegetable pans 19y and 20 needing greaterrefrigerating effect than they would normally receive from the aircirculation set up by baille 10. As is common in refrigerators thesepans 19 and 20 are positioned at the very bottom of the storagecompartment. They may be supported in any suitable manner, but are here'shown as mounted by means of their upper side edgesor rims. Specificallythese rims are slidably received in outer guide members 21 and 2 2.which are axed to the liner 3 and by a center guide member 23 which issupported' bythe shelf 2'4' positioned above the vegetable pans'. Thisshelf 24 is preferably a solid rather than a` perforated member so thatit forrn's a barrier between the vegetable pans and the rest of thestorage compartment, the reason for su'ch barrier appearing hereinafter.

ln accordance with my invention for applying an increased refrigeratingeffect to these vegetable pans `I have provided means wherebycold air iscarried directly to the pans by-passing the remainder of the storageportion of the compartment. In -the illustrtd'einbdirrient these air owmeans comprise the channels or recesses 25 and 26 formed in the rearwall 15 of liner 3, the recess 25 serving to cool the vegetable pan 19and the recess 26 the vegetable pan 20. As may be seen in Fig. 3 theserecesses or channels are preferably greater in width than in depth sothat they provide a yrelatively large cross-section for the tlow ofair.4 Further, as is best shown in Fig. 2, they extend upwardly past therear cud of the baffle 10 and downwardly to the bottom section of therefrigerator wherein the vegetable pans are positioned. Morespecifically, the lower vends of the channels extend downwardly belowthe solidwshelf 24 beneath which the vegetable pans are positioned.

Through their extension above the rear end of the baille 10, thechannels 25 and 26 open into the upper cooling portion of the storagecompartmen t whereinthere a constant supply of relatively `cold` air.This cold ,air is heavier than the somewhat warmer airuinuthe Astorageportion of the compartmentbelow bathe and therefore tends to falldownwardly. T he channels 425 .and form an unrestricted path orpassageway for the 'flow of this cold air around bathe and it therefore`rrovc'es downwardly through them. Since there are no vanesor other airdirecting means obstructing flow at any point in the channels, the coldair therefore tends tomove' downwardly until it reaches the lower endsof channels adjacent the vegetable pans. In other w'od's,`a column ofcool air formed in each channel drops directly to the bottom sectionlay-passingy the rcmainder of the storage compartment. i Due to thecurved bottom ends of the channelsl theueool, is then charged outwardlyinto the bottom section aroundd vegetable pans. This cold airthuswtlowingdirectlhybto the vegetable pan applies a much c greaterrefrigerating effect than would otherwise there occur. For example, ithas been found that through the provision o f these' channels thevegetable pans may be maintained from 2 to 31/2 F. colder than when nosuch channels 're pro-1 As mentioned above, theA shelf or cover'Zposltxoned above the vegetable pans 20 preferably comprises: a solidrather than la perforated member.y It is so rnadern order to prevent thevegetables stored therein losing. their moisture. Additionally, in mypreferred `err'ibodiment this solid shelf 24 restricts the air,lflowbetween the vegetable pans and the remainder ofthe storagecomparutment and thus helps to prevent loss Vof the nici'eascdrefrigerating effect supplied to the paus my new and improved 4air flowmeans. In other words, the; solid` shelf, if provided, serves both as amoisture retainer vand as an air tlow barrier. However, even withoutthis shelf thel columns of cool air dropping' `tlirtiJg'hu my air f low'means would still be eective to' maintain al l'owteiuperature in thevegetable pans. i

In summation it will be seen that through my invention I have provided asimple but yet effective rn'ns whereby the bottom portion. of arefrigerator storage compartment may be maintained at a` temperaturesome'- what lower than otherwise would there be' held. My air ow meansfor providing result may be" applied with particularadvantage when' itis desired to cool veg'e'- table pans or other receptacles positioned atthe bottom of the storage compartment. In theY above description.' Ihave described the air ow channels or recesses a's being formed in therear wall of die refrigerator-*liner and for ease ofk manufacture andthe best results in operation it is preferable that they be so'fo'l'fn'iedl` However, it should be understood that, ifl desired,th'clannels" may be provided `in the side walls of the' liier to"produce' the' increased refrigerating, effect. l u

Thus While in accordance with the' patent sttutesul have described whatat present is considered to be' preferred embodiment of my invention, itwill be obvioue to those skilled in the art that this land other changesand modifications may be made therein without departing from myinvention, and I therefore aim in the `appended claims to cover all suchchanges and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of myinvention.

What I claim yas new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States is:

l. In a refrigerator including a liner having a rear and side wallsdefining a refrigerated compartment, cooling means located in the upperportion of said compartment land extending across the width thereof, anda transverse member disposed in said compartment beneath said cool-A ingmeans and sloping downwardly from front to rear to divide saidcompartment into an upper cooling section and a lower storage section,said transverse member extending substantially across the width of saidcompartment and creating a rotary ow of air through said storage sectionfor cooling said section; that improvement which comprises air flowmeans formaintaining a low temperature in the bottom portion of saidstorage section, said air flow means including a vertical channelrecessed in said rear wall of said liner, said channel extendingupwardly beyond said transverse member and downwardly to said bottomportion of said storage section to form an air ow path leading directlyfrom said cooling section to said bottom portion, whereby said bottomportion is cooled by a column of cool air dropping directly into saidbottom portion through said channel and bypassing the remainder of saidstorage section.

2. In a refrigerator including a liner having a rear and side wallsdefining a refrigerated compartment, cooling means located in the upperportion of said compartment and extending across the width thereof, and`a transverse member disposed in said compartment beneath said coolingmeans and sloping downwardly from front to rear to divide saidcompartment into an upper cooling section and a lower storage section,said transverse member extending substantially across the width of saidcompartment and creating a rotary flow of air through said storagesection for cooling said section; that improvement which comprises airflow `means for maintaining a low temperature in the bottom portion ofsaid storage section, said air flow means including a verticallyextending recess formed in said rear wall of said liner, said recessbeing greater in width than in depth, and said recess extending upwardlypast the rear end of said transverse member and downwardly to saidbottom portion of said storage section to form an air tlow path leadingdirectly from said cooling section to said bottom portion, whereby saidbottom portion is cooled by a column of cold air dropping directly intosaid bottom portion through said recess and by-passing the remainder ofsaid storage section.

3. In a refrigerator including a liner having a rear and side wallsdefining sa refrigerated compartment, an evaporator located in the upperportion of said compartment and extending kacross the width thereof, atransverse member disposed in said compartment beneath said evaporatorand sloping downwardly from front to rear to divide said compartmentinto an evaporator section and a lower fresh food section, saidtransverse member extending substantially across the width of saidcompartment and creating a rotary flow of air through said fresh foodsection for cooling said section, and at least one vegetable pan mountedat the bottom of said fresh food section; that improvement whichcomprises air ow means for maintaining a low temperature in saidvegetable pan, said air flow means including at least one verticalchannel recessed in the rear wall of said liner, said channel extendingupwardly beyond said transverse member and downwardly below the topsurface of said vegetable pan to form an air flow path leading directlyfrom said evaporator section to said vegetable pan, whereby saidvegetable pan is cooled by a column of cool air dropping directly tosaid vegetable pan through said channel and by-passing the remainder ofsaid fresh food section.

4. In a refrigerator including a liner having a rear and side wallsdefining a refrigerated compartment, an evaporator located in the upperportion of said compartment and extending across the width thereof, atransverse member disposed in said compartment beneath said evaporatorand sloping downwardly from front to rear to divide said compartmentinto an upper evaporator section and a lower fresh food section, saidtransverse member extending substantially across the width of saidcompartment and creating a rotary flow of air through said fresh foodsection for cooling said section, and a vegetable pan disposed in thebottom of said fresh food section; that improvement which comprises airflow means for maintaining a low temperature in said vegetable pan, saidair ilow means including 'a vertically extending recess formed in saidrear wall of said liner, said recess being greater in' width than indepth, and said recess extending upwardly past the rear end of saidtransverse member yand downwardly to said vegetable pan to form an airflow path leading directly from said evaporator section to saidvegetable pan, whereby said vegetable pan is cooled by a column of coolair dropping directly to said vegetable pan through said recess 'andby-passing the remainder of said fresh food section.

5. In a refrigerator having a liner defining a refrigerated storagecompartment, an evaporator located in the upper portion of saidcompartment and extending across the width thereof, a transverse memberdisposed in said compartment beneath said evaporator and slopingdownwardly from frontl to rear to divide said compartment into anevaporator section and a fresh food section, said transverse memberextending substantially across the width of said compartment andcreating a rotary ow of air through said fresh food section for coolingsaid section, and 4a vegetable pan positioned at the bottom of saidfresh food section; that improvement which comprises air flow means formaintaining a low temperature in said vegetable pan, said air flow meansincluding a vertical channel recessed in said liner iand an air tlowbarrier positioned above said vegetable pan, said channel 'extendingupwardly beyond said transverse member and downwardly below said barrierto form an air ow path leading directly from said evaporator section tosaid vegetable pan, whereby said vegetable pan is cooled by a column ofcool air dropping directly to said vegetable pan past said transversemember and saidbarrier and Yby-passing the remainder of said fresh foodsection, with said barrier impeding air tlow between said vegetable pan`and said remainder of said fresh food section to restrict other airflow to said pan.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,145,892 Roberts Feb. 7, 1939 2,343,166 Ashbaugh Feb. 29, 19442,351,139 McCloy June 13, 1944 2,373,618 Tobey Apr. 10, 1945

